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LIVING HISTORY EVENT

September 7th 10 AM- 4PM

History will come to life at the Winsted Soldiers' Monument when Civil War re-enactors hold a living history day on Saturday, September 7th from 10AM- 4PM. Soldiers representing various Civil War units will be encamped on the grounds of the monument where they will recreate various aspects of a Civil War soldier’s life. Listen to the sounds of musket fire as you witness the soldiers marching, drilling and demonstrating their weapons. Smell the wood smoke as they make coffee over a campfire, see them eating hardtack as well other food items that the soldiers would have eaten. There will be a field hospital display where medics and surgeons will demonstrate and explain medical care during the Civil War. Come and experience life as it was for the people at home during the Civil War. The children played different games than today and they will be demonstrated. The West Winsted Ladies Aide Society will be displaying how the women at home helped support the war effort by packing care boxes and sending items to the soldiers far from home. Live performances of Civil War music will fill the air as you are transported back to September 1863…. While you are on the grounds of the monument, take a tour of our unique Soldier’s Monument and learn why the residents of Winsted were so proud of those who joined, served and gave the last full measure in order to preserve the Union.HISTORIC CEMETERY TOUR - October 26th Join us on Saturday, October 26th from 1-4PM at the South Road Cemetery in Winchester Center for our fantastic fundraising venture (cost to be determined shortly-check the website in June on our Events link for more info). Costumed Interpreters will bring various historic figures from Winchester Center and Winsted’s glorious past to life! They will tell you about their lives during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and more. Come and meet these interesting residents of Winchester Center and Winsted as you tour the cemetery and walk back through time.

Researchers investigate the lives of the men on the monument

Virginia Shultz-Charette, vice-chair of the Soldiers' Monument Commission and a public historian whose field of expertise is Civil War history has teamed up with Brendan Fritch of Barkhamsted, a graduate of Western New EnglandUniversity with a B.A. in U.S. History, to investigate the lives of the men on the Soldiers' Monument. Shultz-Charette has long suspected that the men on the monument did not necessarily all live in Winchester, but signed up in town due to the generous bounties offered. Winchester was the first town to offer bounties in the state. Other men, she surmised, were often left off the monument because they signed up with other communities and even in other states whenever Winchester fulfilled its quota and temporarily closed its recruiting office.Just this April, Fritch found a listing of the men's names in the November 6, 1891 edition of the Winsted Herald. Members of the Winchester Soldiers' Park Association asked the public's help to confirm the spelling of the names and requested information regarding other soldier's names who may have been overlooked. "Memory is not a particularly accurate guide to reconstructing activities of more than 25 years prior", according to Shultz-Charette. It seems as though the association discounted readily available information that had been recently published in 1889, the massive volume with the very long title, "Record of service of Connecticut men in the army and navy of the United States during the War of the Rebellion". Ironically, the addition of the names carved on marble slabs which is such an important part of the monument today may have been an after-thought since the monument itself was dedicated more than a year earlier, on September 11, 1890.However, the research, which involves comparing census data, city directories,newspaper accounts, pensions, obituaries, letters and diaries is more than just an exercise to discover the criterion used to gather names for the monument. Shultz-Charette and Fritch hope to give as full an accounting as possible with the scattered fragments of records to make these men's lives as complete as possible to honor their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.To preserve this fragile remnant of Winchester's history, the pair hope to publish a book of their findings in 2015 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the war AND the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument with proceeds going to the Soldiers' Monument Restoration Fund.

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